Sister Joan Chittister famously said, "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again." Reflecting on that journey -- a blog at a time -- is the focus of this site.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

"But the Bible says ..."

28 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

Remember THAT one the next time somebody comes at you with "But the Bible says ..."

10 comments:

Sharia started with the Bible - Islam started with the Bible. Mohammed just skipped those parts he found inconvenient or inconceivable, i. e. - the whole "Jesus thing." It's really hard to get people to ride across a parched, barren desert to slaughter their enemies if you got the Incarnation of God saying "Forgive your enemies."

I am always discouraged by the strategy of discounting one particular biblical passage by ridiculing others. It tends to imply that the whole revelation of scripture is, at bottom, contemptuous. Perhaps that is the point.

Rather than argue the point, I would encourage your readers to examine the cited passages, to ask whether the characterizations are really accurate--whether what is at stake is a way to protect young brides from false accusations,and whether some remedy is offered for young women who, having been raped, become not longer desired as wives. Neither scenario is very pretty, but neither represents the simple "death for fornication" or "marriage by rape" so beloved of those who hold the Torah in contempt.

As Christians we might also keep in mind that Jesus had no apparent problem with relaxing the law's pernalties while at the same time maintaining the sinfulness of sexual misconduct.

Thank you. I just had my first run-in with a "friend" who loves me BUT "the Bible says..." I've already unfriended him, but not before blasting more scripture at him. And showing him the love in Leviticus.

There are principles of biblical interpretation, long antedating current controversies, that deal with the fact that the OT in general, and the Pentateuch in particular, were first addressed to a theocracy, when the people of God and a particular nation state were the same group. (Yes, there are few exceptions, such as Namaan in Judges) How the principles expressed in various OT passages are to be applied when the people of God - the community of those who worship Yahweh - are not a nation politically, but rather those who live in a secular state.

There is much more that could be said, such as Christ fulfilling the ceremonial law and so setting it aside for those who follow him - but while all Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is not all applied in the same way.

No one at my church holds the Torah in contempt. If we did, I don’t think we would have had a willing rabbi-in-residence for so many years. But we do have some knowledge that the writers of the Bible did not have, and we have grown at least a teeny, tiny bit less patriarchal and heterosexualist.

“ . . . when the people of God and a particular nation state were the same group.”

So during the years covered by the Pentateuch (and earlier) only the Jewish people were people of God? The humans living in other nations and on other continents were not people of God, in the same way that fundamentalists, including some current presidential candidates, regularly remind us that Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others are not people of God? So Father Greg Boyle is wrong when he writes that there is no one outside our circle of kin?

Did the Christians from other states who directed millions of dollars toward the support of Prop. 8 in California “ask whether the characterizations (of the handful of Bible verses which they claim condemn homosexuality) are really accurate?”

“ . . . while all Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is not all applied in the same way.”

I’ll say.

Do the people who continue to use the Bible as a club against LGBT persons really know or care about accuracy? It’s been about 24 hours since I’ve seen anyone do this, on facebook, in language I can’t repeat here, so maybe things have changed.

I'm always discouraged by the strategy of validating conservative cherry-picking with long, obtuse arguments about what these scriptures really meant and obfuscating the validity of liberal criticism by implying anti-Semitism.

The fact, the basic fact, is that conservatives, just like liberals, just like Muslims, just like Jews, just like everyone else make the Scriptures mean what they want it to. That's the point.

There is nothing more contemptuous of the Scriptures, which constantly direct us to the living experience of God than to make them the experience itself.

Welcome to my blog ...

... where I try to be really clear about what I'm clear about. For example:

Religious persecution is when you're prevented from exercising your beliefs, not when you're prevented from IMPOSING your beliefs.

========

Until we end the blatant and indefensible discrimination of DOMA we are not living up to the pledge we make to be a nation of liberty and justice for all, we are not providing the equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to same-sex couples and we are failing to defend the self-evident truth that our forbearers fought to protect: that ALL people are created equal.

============ Using "biblical standards" to condemn those who understand that sexual orientation is morally neutral makes as much sense as using "biblical standards" to condemn astronomers who understand that the earth revolves around the sun. The Bible may have said it but that doesn't always settle it. ============ It's liberty and justice for all -- not some. It's respect the dignity of every human being -- not just straight ones. Got it? Great. Let's do it.

====== In order to keep moving forward toward liberty and justice for all we can't just be right about what the 1st Amendment protects. We have to be smart about how we respond to those who skipped the 9th Commandment and think lying is a Traditional Family Value. ======= Jesus said "Love your neighbor." Not "Love your neighbor unless your neighbor is gay."

Basic Bio

A cradle Episcopalian second generation Dodger fan ENFJ native of Los Angeles I was ordained in 1996 and currently serve as a Senior Associate at All Saints Church, Pasadena.
My family consists of my wife Lori, 2 dogs, (Hillary & Chelsea), 3 cats (Maui, Cherokee and Harold) and our four young adult kids: Jim (married to the awesome Kelly), Brian, Grace and Emily.
My life in the church has included everything from Junior Altar Guild with my Aunt Gretchen to my “obligatory young adult lapsed phase” to a tour of duty on the St. Paul’s, Ventura vestry where I also worked as parish secretary to a life-heart-soul changing experience as part of the Cursillo community to serving on my parish ECW Board to seminary at the School of Theology in Claremont to associate/day school chaplain positions at St. Mark’s, Altadena and St. Peter’s, San Pedro to Executive Director of Claiming the Blessing to my current parish position at All Saints Church. It’s been a long and winding road and the journey continues: an inch at a time.

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This blog is the personal weblog of one Susan Lynn Russell. The opinions expressed herein are hers and hers alone. The postions taken on matters theological or political (or anything else, for that matter) are in no way to be construed as the official positions of any other person, institution, group or organization.

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